Sleep Sheep: yay or nay

[honeybadger]

Or should I say, "Bah" or "Nah"? Okay, bad joke. That's what happens when you spend all of your waking hours with an 8-week old, right?

Little HB currently sleeps in a Rock 'n Play next to our bed. We can get her to sleep in the RnP, but only after falling asleep in our arms/on one of our chests. We are working on getting her to sleep on her own --on the rare occasion that she naps in her crib, she seems to like the lullabies on the mobile...

One of my friends swears by the Sleep Sheep--does anyone have any experience and/or advice? Is it worth it? I'm wondering if the heart beat sound would help/mimic being on my chest?

If not, any other suggestions?

TIA!

[speckledfrog]

We didn't use one. We do use a sound machine (homedics sound spa).

[pierogigirl]

We also have the homedics sound spa - 2 actually (one for each DS). Oh, and a spare, "just in case".

[pugz]

homedics sound spa has been awesome, bonus: projection sheds just enough light in the room while rocking to make sure they are really asleep Also I like the giant whale projected on the ceiling...

[xokell2]

Dec 17, 2012 22:48:18 GMT -5 pugz said:

homedics sound spa has been awesome, bonus: projection sheds just enough light in the room while rocking to make sure they are really asleep Also I like the giant whale projected on the ceiling...

I too use the sound spa with projection and prefer it but I also have the sleep sheep and use it to lull the little one to sleep on occasion. He LOVE the little Fischer price ocean scene thing to fall asleep to in his crib as well

[froggy76]

The sleep sheep was the only thing that would calm down DD in the first few weeks. We have the travel version and it was great to take around to different rooms and in the car. However, now we just use the Homedics sound spa. The biggest drawback of the sleep sheep is that it shuts off... if you're looking for white noise for all night, a regular sound machine is probably better.

[CloudBee]

Nay. It turns itself off after like 30 minutes. We bought one on Black Friday, tested it out ourselves as we sleep with a fan going, and the minute it turned off I woke up. There's no way to keep it on. I think we'll put a fan in the baby's room just like we have in our own. A small turbo fan.

[JayhawkGirl]

We used a traditional sound machine mostly early on, but also had the sleep sheep. I'm glad we did. He is 3 and still sleeps with it, only now he turns it on himself when he needs it. He is a terrible sleeper and I am so happy he has it and can soothe himself with it.

[h]

Neither the sleep sheep nor a regular sound machine had any effect on my crappy sleepers.

[honeybadger]

Thanks everyone for the input! I'll avoid the sleep sheep and check out the Homedic.

[fortmyersbride]

We call DD's room the sensory deprivation chamber. She suddenly started wanting to sleep alone at 13 mos but everything has to be "just so". We have the home medics sound machine with projector next to the crib. In the crib she has the twilight turtle and the sleep dolphin (same as the sheep, just a different animal). Both the turtle and dolphin time out after 20-30 min, but she just turns them back on when she wakes up during the night (we've caught her rearranging her crib on the monitor at 2am, it's kinda cute).

So yes, I think all of these sleep gadgets are totally worth it. But she also only slept in 30-60 min increments for most of her first year, so I would've gone for just about any sleep gimmick I came across.

[Deleted]

LOVE IT! Bought it at 8 weeks and always had it on the ocean setting -- didn't keep it in the sheep, just pulled the sound box out and still use it and baby is now 1 yo!

[moonstone523]

Nay. Or buy mine. ours had no effect on our good sleeper.

[badtzmaru22]

Someone bought one for us. It works on me, not sure about the baby.

[Deleted]

Nay for under 10 months. We used a white noise app on our phones when he was small. Now we use the sleep sheep because he only needs a few minutes of white noise to fall asleep.

[jessnpaul]

Yay! We still use it... in fact, we have both the travel and regular Sleep Sheep!

[cookies]

Yay and Nay. We still use it and turn it on to start bed time routine, but I hate that it turns off after 40 minutes. And we took the sound machine part out of the sheep, so really it's just a sheep and a crappy sound machine now. I think you're better off getting a real sound machine. So I amend my answer to Nay. Cute, but not worth it.

[Deleted]

We were gifted a sleep sheep so we used it and it definitely helped. However, any sound machine will do.

[DarcyLongfellow]

We don't have it, so I can't say. We do have the Fisher Price seahorse, which is similar in that it turns off after a bit. DD has always loved the seahorse, but she mostly uses it as a nightlight so she can see to read her books and things :-)

We also use the Homedics Sound Spa, and we love it. We have a spare also :-). If you buy it, just know that the projector WILL stop rotating. It still works as a nightlight, but it's not a mobile replacement.

[Deleted]

Nay, Homedics Sound Spa is better. We just have the sound machine (no projection). I stole it. DS doesn't care, but I use it to drown out noise so I sleep better.

[Saudade]

Didn't work for us. FP Seahorse is awesome though.